Showcase: Dill/Lidl

Stockholm’s pop-up restaurant Dill turned out to be not quite all it seemed when it was revealed that behind the beautifully presented façade and fully booked tables, customers were actually eating a menu created entirely by discount supermarket Lidl.

Dill – an anagram of Lidl – was open for three weeks during September and October 2013. The objective for the activity, conceived by Ingo Sweden, was to overcome the ‘bad quality’ stigma associated with Lidl’s low prices and convince Swedish grocery consumers of the brand’s high quality.

Two-starred Michelin chef Michael Wignall took charge at Dill, where he and his team used ingredients exclusively from Lidl, down to the last grain of salt. Before opening, the news of Wignall’s new pop-up received coverage across major media outlets and the restaurant was fully booked in just 29 minutes through a combination of celebrities, foodies and the general public.

The campaign won a Gold PR award at Eurobest 2013. Photos of the restaurant were posted on Instagram and the campaign became the highest trending topic on Twitter in Sweden for two days in a row.